20 Miles At The Red-Line, 6.2 at Death's Door
Since I finally got the sub three hour monkey off my back at Dallas five weeks ago my plan at the Chevron Houston Marathon today was to come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders and just see how deep into the race I could hold it. My overall goal was to best my Dallas time, however I got there.
Things started off well, as my buddy from the 2006 Houston marathon, Brian Belger, pulled up beside me before we'd even hit mile one. Brian and I ran 20 great miles together in 2006 before I hit the wall. It was great to have him running next to me again. Brian is a faster runner than me so I wasn't surprised that we were consistently running miles in the 6:33 to 6:38 range early on. I knew it was aggressive for me, but since my plan was to swing for the fences I figured, what the heck. We hit five miles in 33:03 (6:37 pace) and did the second five miles even faster - 32:55 (6:35 pace).
Our ten mile time was 1:05:58 (6:36 pace). Brian, who had separated his shoulder last weekend in a biking accident, dropped back somewhere around mile 12 or 13 and I hit the half in 1:26:39 (6:37 pace). That's the second fastest half I've ever run.
My third five-mile split was 33:33 (6:43 pace), getting me to 15 miles in 1:39:31 (6:38 pace), but I wasn't hitting as many mile splits at sub 6:40 anymore. In fact, I never would again.
Mile 20 saw me complete the 4th five-split in 34:20, a still respectable 6:42 pace, but I was about to die. My 20th mile had come in at 7:02 and had been a real struggle. Everything was slowing down, and unlike Dallas, I was unable to do anything about it. I wanted to quit, real bad. But of course that was an option.
Miles 21 through 25 were awful, and awfully painful. I posted a 36:44 for that five-mile split (7:21 pace) and watched my shot at besting Dallas fade.
Mile 26 was faster than mile 25, but was still only 7:23. It was all I had. I just wanted to come in under 3 hours again at that point. I clocked a 1:34 in the final stretch to post a 2:59:33.
It was the best I could do. I'm not sure if I wouldn't have still had the same problems in those last several miles even if I had been slower in the beginning. I mean, everything suggests that I went out to fast, and I probably did. But I still might have died at the end anyway. Who knows. I gave it a good shot and have no regrets. Two sub 3 hour marathons in five weeks at the age of 44 ain't too terribly bad I don't guess.
By the way, my wife, who had never run farther than down to the mailbox until May 2007, completed the half today in 2:27 and change and said she could have easily shaved another eight minutes off that if she hadn't been so cautious about her pace, and if she wouldn't have been forced into a nearly 15 minute mile one because of the crowd. Good job Susan Collins!
Things started off well, as my buddy from the 2006 Houston marathon, Brian Belger, pulled up beside me before we'd even hit mile one. Brian and I ran 20 great miles together in 2006 before I hit the wall. It was great to have him running next to me again. Brian is a faster runner than me so I wasn't surprised that we were consistently running miles in the 6:33 to 6:38 range early on. I knew it was aggressive for me, but since my plan was to swing for the fences I figured, what the heck. We hit five miles in 33:03 (6:37 pace) and did the second five miles even faster - 32:55 (6:35 pace).
Our ten mile time was 1:05:58 (6:36 pace). Brian, who had separated his shoulder last weekend in a biking accident, dropped back somewhere around mile 12 or 13 and I hit the half in 1:26:39 (6:37 pace). That's the second fastest half I've ever run.
My third five-mile split was 33:33 (6:43 pace), getting me to 15 miles in 1:39:31 (6:38 pace), but I wasn't hitting as many mile splits at sub 6:40 anymore. In fact, I never would again.
Mile 20 saw me complete the 4th five-split in 34:20, a still respectable 6:42 pace, but I was about to die. My 20th mile had come in at 7:02 and had been a real struggle. Everything was slowing down, and unlike Dallas, I was unable to do anything about it. I wanted to quit, real bad. But of course that was an option.
Miles 21 through 25 were awful, and awfully painful. I posted a 36:44 for that five-mile split (7:21 pace) and watched my shot at besting Dallas fade.
Mile 26 was faster than mile 25, but was still only 7:23. It was all I had. I just wanted to come in under 3 hours again at that point. I clocked a 1:34 in the final stretch to post a 2:59:33.
It was the best I could do. I'm not sure if I wouldn't have still had the same problems in those last several miles even if I had been slower in the beginning. I mean, everything suggests that I went out to fast, and I probably did. But I still might have died at the end anyway. Who knows. I gave it a good shot and have no regrets. Two sub 3 hour marathons in five weeks at the age of 44 ain't too terribly bad I don't guess.
By the way, my wife, who had never run farther than down to the mailbox until May 2007, completed the half today in 2:27 and change and said she could have easily shaved another eight minutes off that if she hadn't been so cautious about her pace, and if she wouldn't have been forced into a nearly 15 minute mile one because of the crowd. Good job Susan Collins!
posted by Lance Collins at 1:21 PM
13 Comments:
I dont know if you heard me Lance, but I was screaming my head off at you as i was on the sidelines about 50 feet from the finish and saw you come in under 3 hours yet again.
I know you didnt get what you wanted, but dammit man you gave it a hella shot out there!
Thanks June. I did hear you! I'm fine with what I ran today. I wanted to go out fast and see how far I could hold on and that's exactly what I did. Good job on your half.
Bring on the Spring race series and may the Striders men's master team kick some ass. Great run today.
SteveS
Another sub 3. Ho Hum. :-) :-)
Congrats on another good run Lance! Two sub-3:00s this close together is impressive!! Congrats to your wife as well!
and you didn't lose your chip, right? ;)
i'm proud of you...i had the same situation in my race though, out too fast and died at the end.
But i would do it the same way again!
congrats!
Congratulations to you & your wife. The tail wind from miles 5 thru 9 was probably to blame for the faster pace of your second 5-miler. The north wind might also affect your miles from 14 thru 18. But good job for hanging in there in the last 10K.
See you at the spring series races.
I went out slow (at least I thought so) and died big time at the end.
Congrats on another sub 3. Way to go! Guts is the best word that comes to mind.
And big congrats to Susan. Nice to meet her yesterday!
Very solid race. I know what you mean when you wonder if you would have slowed down at the end even if you had started more conservatively. I feel the same way. I just think I was going to slow down out there even if I had gone 10-15 seconds per mile slower in the beginning. May as well bank some time;-)
Congrats on Back to Back Sub3's!!!!
Great job on the sub-3. Especially two in just a little over a months' time.
My training was horrible in 2007, but you, Steve, Steve and some others have motivated me to pick it back up a notch.
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Impressive, and I do mean your race and your write up. The double monkey references (swing from the trees) made me laugh.
I admire your ability to put it all out there even when its painful; congratulations.
Oh, and a HUGE congratulations to your wife. Taking up a demanding hobby like distance runs while rearing three children? Impressive.:-)
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